Engage With the Alliance Initiatives

It takes hearts, hands and minds to build The Intertwine’s 3,000 square miles of parks, trails and natural areas. This is the work of The Intertwine Alliance—a unique coalition of 120+ public, private and nonprofit organizations in the Portland/Vancouver region.

Through the organizing framework of Collective Impact, we identify priority work areas, set goals and guide progress.

Initiative areas we're working in include Active Transportation, Conservation Education, Conservation, Equity, Health & Nature, Communications/Our Common Ground Campaign, and the Regional System of Parks and Trails.

​Check back here for frequent updates, resources and calendar items, as we shape a positive new future for The Intertwine, powered by you.

The Intertwine Alliance

Creating A Movement for Parks, Trails and Natural Areas

A few years ago, we realized that all of our greatest achievements had one thing in common. Whether launching a natural area acquisition initiative, completing a new trail, or opening a major new park, behind every major success stood a coalition of public, private and nonprofit organizations and leaders. So, we thought, rather than put this coalition together each time we want to do something big, why not put it together and keep it together and keep doing big things?

The Intertwine Alliance uses a "collective impact" approach, a model that is emerging worldwide as best practice when addressing large-scale social and environmental challenges.

So that’s what we’ve done.

The Intertwine Alliance is a coalition of private firms, public agencies and nonprofit organizations working together to tap new sources of funding, better leverage existing investments, and more fully engage residents with the outdoors and nature. The Intertwine Alliance uses a collective impact approach to its work. Collective impact is the commitment of a coalition of organizations from different sectors to a common agenda for addressing a complex social or environmental challenge.

The Alliance was built over many years, but was formally launched as a nonprofit in July 2011 with 28 partners. Today, we have more than 100 formal partners.

The Alliance exists to ensure the region’s trail network gets completed; that our natural areas get restored, and that people of all ages discover they can enjoy the outdoors near where they live. We exist to make our region more attractive to new businesses and to help our existing companies attract talent. We’re here to reduce utility and transportation costs and keep our water clean. Finally, we’re here to help our partner organizations build their capacity and become more successful.

You can learn about our activities here, find out more about our history, and we hope if you haven't done so yet, that you will join The Alliance and help us build a movement for parks, trails and natural areas in the Portland - Vancouver region!

News from the Intertwine

June 23, 2015 | Portland, OR - For a second summer, community members are invited to participate in OakQuest, an effort to map Oregon’s imperiled white oak trees.
The Intertwine Alliance Oak Mapping Work Group, a partnership of Portland metropolitan area parks and natural resource agencies, non-governmental organizations and others, is working to develop better maps showing the distribution of Oregon white oak across the region.